


Who Needs a Reason?

by Daytripper



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Drug Addiction, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 11:21:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15533112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daytripper/pseuds/Daytripper
Summary: So, the band’s breaking up.Zayn’s gone, Liam’s optimistic, Niall’s fragile, and Harry has terrible coping mechanisms.Louis just wants his best friend to be happy.





	Who Needs a Reason?

Harry was just sat there. He’d been sitting in the corner of his apartment, staring out the window, for nearly an hour. In all fairness, Louis had been doing the same, although his gaze had been periodically drifting between the Barça game on TV and the neglected joint in Harry’s hand. The smoke trailing upwards from the smoldering tip seemed like a waste, but Louis wasn’t about to question Harry’s judgement out loud.

Niall grunted at something that happened in the game, but Louis had missed it. Their teams weren’t playing, so nobody was all that invested in watching. “What’s that?” Louis murmured, but Niall just shrugged a shoulder. The general mood in the place was absolute shite.

“You lot want to head down the street to Mickey’s and get a few pints? To celebrate?” 

His upbeat question was met with silence. “Damn, alright then.” 

Niall lolled his head to look at Louis. “No offense, mate. We’d just rather wallow in our own self-pity, if that’s alright with you?” In the corner, Harry took a short drag and coughed.

Louis groaned and slid down into the depths of the couch cushions. “Right, but what’s the point in being depressed? We all wanted this. It’s, like, some sort of new beginning or somethin’, innit? We’ve all got stuff in the works.”

“Sure, ‘cause you’re so chuffed. Doesn’t make it any easier, does it?”

Louis hummed in half-hearted agreement. Zayn had brought up the idea months ago, then left on his own when everyone else dragged their feet. He knew Niall and Liam had stacks of song ideas and long lists of musicians willing to collaborate with them. And hell, Harry had been the one to finally convince the rest of them to take a break. Really, it felt like all of them had been ready to let go except for Louis. He agreed to the hiatus anyway, of course, so as not to seem desperate.

“Liam just texted me,” Niall announced, his phone 2 inches from his face. “Zayn’s releasing a new song next week.”

Harry glanced over at them for the first time in awhile, and raised raised an eyebrow. “Good on him.”

Louis pulled a pillow over his face and moaned dramatically. “Can we please do something, for Chrissakes?” 

Harry held out the joint to Louis, who hopped off the couch to grab it. “Good start,” he murmured, “but we can’t just sit around and smoke all day.” 

“I take offense to that,” Niall said as he texted Liam back.

“I want to go out.” 

“Why?”

“Because this is bloody boring!” 

“And you want to drink your sorrows away,” Harry pointed out. “Bit hypocritical, really.” 

“Liam and Sophia are at Ministry.” Niall interrupted, holding his phone up in front of Louis’ face.

Louis grabbed his coat and his phone. “Let’s go, then.” 

—

Liam met them at the back door of the club, where loud music was seeping into the surrounding street. “Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!” He shouted as they hopped up the stairs. He was sporting a leather jacket and a red Santa hat.“It’s July,” Louis replied.

“No shit, son,” Liam said. “Christmas in July.” 

As they filed in past Liam, Louis glanced around at the familiar surroundings of the club. Liam ushered them into one of the private rooms at the back, but Louis caught a glimpse of the main dance floor. Everyone was dressed as either Santas or sexy elves. He also spotted a few reindeer grinding their hips against each other. “I feel a bit underdressed,” Louis shouted, his voice being drowned out by the strange Christmas dubstep remix blaring in his ears.

Liam tossed a pair of antlers his way, a cheeky grin spread across his face. “Rudolph.” He passed Harry a Santa hat, then handed Niall a pair of elf ears. Niall quickly snatched the hat out of Harry’s hand and threw the ears at him. 

“Too skinny to be Santa,” he laughed.

Harry didn’t seem to care. His eyes were glazed and distant, and he slowly put the elf ears on.

Louis noticed Sophia in the corner, staring at her phone, an adorable red dot painted on her nose. He flicked one of the red Christmas lights hanging down from the ceiling and pointed to her nose.

“Can you guide my way tonight, Rudolph?” He asked, sitting down beside her.

She chuckled and rolled her eyes a bit, but then her expression softened. “Is Harry okay?”

Louis glanced back over his shoulder and saw Harry’s pushing through the crowd of people on the dance floor. “Not sure, love. He’s hard to read sometimes. Catch up in a bit, yeah?”

Louis tried to weave through the mob of festive drunkards. Green and red lasers flashed across the ceiling, and whatever song was playing had unmistakable jingle bells keeping the beat. The dance floor smelled like spilt beer and eggnog, and Louis had to admit that Ministry took their themed nights seriously. Up ahead, he saw Harry slip into the loo. He shoved past a tipsy, leather-clad Mrs. Clause and ducked in behind him.

Red bulbs cast a dingy crimson glow throughout the bathroom, and Louis blinked a few times while his eyes adjusted. It felt like being in a darkroom, granted Louis had only seen them in movies. Harry was sat on a couch with a few other men in front of a small table—fancy, pretentious places like this always felt the need to put a lounge in the damn loo. Harry’s eyes found Louis immediately, though he quickly glanced back down. Another man Louis vaguely recognized was cutting a pile of coke into lines with what appeared to be a Starbucks gift card. Christ.

Louis took a seat next to Harry and nodded to the guys surrounding him. “It’s like they put these little nooks in here just to do blow,” he observed. “What other reason would lads be lounging in the loo for?”

A small smile danced on Harry’s lips, and a red glint caught his eyes when he looked sideways at Louis. “Guess they know their clientele, huh?” The red cast across Harry’s skin made him look devilish, and Louis suppressed a laugh.

“Guess so,” Louis agreed, turning to observe the neat lines of coke in front of him. This guy was definitely putting on a show, what with the damn heap of the stuff he’d poured across the table. Louis swore he remembered the man, but couldn’t quite place the name.

“Let it snow,” the mystery man said, and Louis had to roll his eyes.  
“We get it, it’s Christmas,” Louis whispered in Harry’s ear.

If Harry noticed Louis was unimpressed, he didn’t let on. He quickly bent down and Louis watched one of the neat little lines quickly disappear. When he sat up, Harry wiped his nose and rubbed his eyes vigorously. He blinked up at Louis and nodded towards the table expectantly. 

“Erm, I—“ He started, but another kid who couldn’t have been much older than 17 leaned down before think too hard about it. 

“Hmph,” Harry muttered, sticking his finger into the powder and offering it up to Louis’ nostril.

“God, Mum, I can do my own drugs,” he protested, but Harry pushed his finger up higher until it was touching the tip of Louis’ nose. Louis couldn’t help but giggle. The corners of Harry’s mouth had turned up for the first time all day, and his eyes were wide and bright. 

“No pressure, just to have some fun tonight,” Harry said with a slight laugh, pulling his hand away.

Louis had been dying to hear that laugh since the band meeting yesterday. After the others had left the studio, Harry had seemingly fallen in on himself like a crumbling statue. His cold face had been set in stone and Louis didn’t think he’d said more than five words in the last 24 hours. It was nice to hear his laugh, see his smile, have him close again. Louis grabbed Harry’s hand and brought it back, and quickly inhaled the powder off Harry’s pinkie finger. It burned a bit, like when he was a kid and got pool water up his nose, but Harry’s smile made him forget.

“You’re actin’ like a virgin, Tomlinson,” Harry grinned, pulling his hand out of Louis’ grasp. 

“What, did I pull a face?” He asked, laughing.

“Nah, but your regular face just has that virginal look about it.”

Louis shoved Harry playfully, although he did so a bit harder than he’d intended to. Harry nearly fell off his seat.

“Shit, sorry.”

Harry shoved him back, laughing. Then, he grabbed Louis by the neck of his t-shirt and stood up. “Thanks, mate,” Harry said to the man distributing new white rows for a few newcomers. Louis tried to voice his gratitude, but Harry was already dragging him through the door.

Niall was waiting for them on the other side, the flashing lights turning his face into a merry lightshow. They both stood there for a moment, saying nothing. Niall glanced between them. “I was looking for you guys, thought you’d gone already.” 

“Nah,” Harry said, reaching over to run a gentle hand through Niall’s hair. “We’re havin’ too much fun, sweet cheeks.” 

Niall looked back and forth between them and then rolled his eyes. He lifted a hand and swiped it across Louis’ nose. “What are you, seventeen?” He asked, although his voice was wavering on laughter.

“Don’t infantilize me,” Harry snapped. “I’m a mature, productive…famous adult, and I can do a bit of cocaine if I feel so inclined.”

“Right,” Niall said. “And this has nothing to do with self-pity we were discussing earlier?”

Harry shook his head firmly. “Nope. Just felt so inclined is all.” 

Niall turned his gaze to Louis. “When’s the last time you even did anything besides smoke?”

Louis thought for a moment, glancing sideways at Harry. “When I was bangin’ your mum.” 

Louis and Harry burst into laughter, leaning on their knees for support as they cackled. Niall just stared at them. “God. You two are terrible when you’re like this.”

Louis and Harry both took offense to that, so they turned and walked back into the crowd.

“Meet back up with Liam in twenty, guys! He’s heading out soon!” Niall shouted over the music.

“Yeah, yeah,” Harry shouted over his shoulder. Suddenly, Harry grabbed Louis by the hand and started darting between dancing couples and twerking sugar-plum fairies. His hand was tight, a little too tight, but Louis was along for the ride at this point. Harry plucked a drink off a table for himself along the way, and Louis sniped a beer from the bar. Harry came to a stop in the middle of the club and turned to face Louis. 

“Dance?” He asked.

Louis laughed. “What, with you?” 

“No,” Harry replied. “With Santa’s little helper.” He pointed up at his ears and giggled.

Louis rolled his eyes, “Sure.” 

A surreal techno version of All I Want for Christmas was blasting, and Louis was admittedly starting to feel the holiday spirit. Harry grabbed Louis by the shoulders, awkwardly, and started jumping up and down with the music. After a few minutes of this pseudo-dancing, Louis was burning up—his skin was covered in a layer of sweat and his shirt was sticking to him. He looked at Harry, whose face was bright red (from the lights or the dancing, he wasn’t sure). They were both panting.

Suddenly, it started to snow.

Louis and Harry looked up in unison, laughing giddily as the snowflakes fell onto the dance floor. A cheer rose up through the crowd. Louis picked one of the flakes out of Harry’s hair and stared at it intently. “It’s plastic,” he noted, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“If it were real it’d melt, Lou,” Harry said, laughing. “It’s like forty degrees in here.” 

Louis nodded solemnly and tried to catch a flake on his tongue anyway. Suddenly, Harry had his arms wrapped around him, his face buried in Louis’ neck. He said something into his skin, but Louis couldn’t make it out over the music. 

“Huh?”

Harry’s lips were touching Louis’ ear. “I don’t want it to end.”

Louis pulled back and looked Harry dead in his face. His eyes had softened, sadness clouding his expression again. The edges of his lips were quivering. Louis pushed a lock of hair out of Harry’s eyes and felt his own face fall.

“Harry, you wanted this,” he whispered, but he knew Harry couldn’t hear him over the music.

“I need—” Harry stuttered, pulling away from Louis. Louis dropped his hands and let Harry push his way through the crowd.

A hand landed on Louis’ shoulder. 

Niall spoke in his ear. “Mate, Liam’s leaving. You wanna say bye, yeah?”

Louis nodded distractedly as he lost sight of Harry.

“Yeah, ‘course.”

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly not sure what I'm doing here. Constructive criticism would be great!
> 
> This only vaguely follows any real timelines because I'm too lazy to look up every little detail.


End file.
